A Shade Darker: The God of Death's First Encounter
by Elf
Summary: This is a side story to A Shade Darker. It takes place when Duo's twelve and goes on his first hunt. These memories will play a very important part later in A Shade Darker, and will be described, but not in this detale. Please read! And its not depres


_**Disclaimer: **_All rights and privileges to Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing are trademarks and property of Sunrise, Bandai, Sotsu Agency, and associated parties. The characters of these works are used WITHOUT permission for the purpose of entertainment only. This work of fiction is not meant for sale or profit.   
  


**_Author's Notes: _**This takes place in the "A Shade Darker" universe and this is Duo Maxwell's first encounter with the supernatural. I couldn't fit it into the story, but this was running around in my head and actually has relevance to the story. These events will have future mention and conciquence in the later parts of ASD. Thanks! Oh, and I'm STILL looking for fan art!   
  


_**A Shade Darker: God of Death's First Encounter**_

**_By: Elf_**   
  


_After Colony 192_   
  


Duo gasped as the paladin brought another blow down to him with his staff. Duo was unarmed, so the young boy gracefully jumped out of the way, avoiding the contact with the staff. He rolled out of the way and swept his feet under his instructer's.   
  


The bigger man fell to the ground in a tangle of long limbs and bulky muscle. Duo rolled and grabbed the man's staff. Smirking, the violet eyed boy jammed it down to his chest, only to pull back at the last moment. Duo stood up and held the staff almost lovingly.   
  


The paladin, a former vampire hunter himself, stood up and looked Duo over. He said, in a faint Cockney, "You've got potential, kid. And you're good. But you're cocky and that's gonna get you into trouble."   
  


"How is the boy doing, Edward?" a rich voice asked. The blood in Duo's veins ran cold as the steely eyed priest walked into the room. This man was in charge of taking care of the supernatural in the world, weeding it out before it could spread in a plague, was what the priest was fond of saying. Kincad was tall and broad shouldered, in his early sixties, but in very good shape. He had close-cut silver hair and icy blue eyes.   
  


Edward was a slender guy who was the product of WASP breeding. Blond hair, blue eyes, slender, good-looking but he had a scar that ran from his left temple, over his left eye and stopped right before it touched his lip from where a werewolf had clawed him. Duo looked at both of them, his grip on the staff tightening. The only people he trusted were Father Maxwell and Sister Helen. There was something about Kincad that he didn't like.   
  


"He's improving rapidly. We may have another David Frost on our hands," Edward said fondly, looking at Duo. The boy smirked, hiding his fear. He could feel the emotions from the two. Edward was jealous that Duo was going to fight, this slip of a boy, and Kincad thought of Duo as a tool. Something that he didn't like at all.   
  


"Is he ready to go hunting?" Kincad asked with a pleased grin on his square features.   
  
  
  


Edward shrugged and said, "Yeah, the kid's ready. If not, we find another one with the blood line and the Gifts."   
  


Kincad asked, "Well, young man, do you think you're ready?"   
  


Duo held his head at a proud angle as he flashed a devil-may-care grin. He answered, "Bring it on, Father."   
  


****** 

The girl screamed and thrashed about, tied spread eagled in the center of the pentagram. The male witch, with a snap of his fingers, lit a circle of black candles around the pentagram, then a circle of red candles around that circle, then, finally, a circle of beige candles, made from human fat that gave off a rank stench in the alley. He was tall and dressed in a black robe, his blond hair blew slightly from his face as his amber eyes twinkled. He smiled.   
  


The girl screamed, arching her nude body up in the pentagram. He said, "Now, my dear, I don't want to do this, but I have no choice. See, Lilith chose me for a day just a couple of years from now. Three, exactly. On this day of the Summer Solstice, I have to do this ritual. I'm sorry that I had to choose you, but do you know how hard it is to find a virgin in this damned colony?"   
  


The girl screamed again, thrashing even more wildly as she looked at the startling witch. Her dark blond hair was plastered into her hazel eyes from her sweat. She thrashed wildly and shouted, "Leave me alone! Please, I never hurt you!"   
  


He looked her over and sighed, not really caring about the girl. He had a knife in his hand made out of solid silver with garnets inlaid into the handle. He said, "Now, this is going to hurt quite a bit and I apologize."   
  


****** 

Duo had all the traditional vampire hunting tools with him: crossbow, holy water, garlic extract, silver knives, silver nitrate, for werewolves, a lighter, and a big ass cross other than the silver one on his neck. He also had wooden stakes placed in various areas of his clothing. One as long as his arm rested in a spine sheath, he had one strapped to his leg, and the last one was strapped on his stomach. He was pretty uncomfortable. Father Kincad had told him that all the Called started this way, even the best one of them, David Frost.   
  


_Fuck that. I want a scythe, preferably made out of gundanium, _the young boy thought as an impish smile crossed his features. He walked silently in the darkness of the colony. Then he sensed it.   
  


Sensing a vampire was a hard experience to explain, he realized. It started with a suttle tingling on the back of his neck and then his brain focused on the presence. Okay. He was cool with that. He scampered up a fire escape and got on a roof top. He saw the undead guy drinking from some cheep hooker, probably too ate up with STDs to matter. Still, it wasn't right that shit sucking fiend was sucking the life out of a woman who's circumstances she couldn't control.   
  


Duo slid down a fire escape behind him. The vamp dropped the woman's corspe and faced Duo. He chuckled and said, "What a cute little girl."   
  


Duo glared at that and flipped him the One Fingered Salute. He hated being called a girl. He had beat up countless bullys at that damned Federation school because they had called him a boy and catwhistled at him.   
  


The vamp took a sniff and said, "Oh, you're a boy. Intresting. Pretty thing. Not that old, you really look like a girl. I'm not that picky. And I'm still hungry, swettie."   
  


"You're a sick fuck, you know that?" Duo asked him.   
  


The vamp grinned and chuckled. He said, "You'll like it."   
  


"Whatever, come on fang face, bring your ass over here to get it kicked," Duo said with a smirk. The vampire's eyes glowed bright crimson as he snarled. Duo chuckled as the vamp charged at him.   
  


Duo aimed the crossbow and smirked. He fired. It sank into the vampire's shoulder, completely missing the heart.   
  


"Oh, fuck," Duo cursed as he dropped the crossbow. The vamp snarled and ripped the bolt out of his shoulder. He swallowed and thought, _You've still got several stakes and knifes on you, Duo. Usem'. _   
  


"What the hell do you think you are, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" the vampire barked.   
  


"What the hell?" Duo asked, not having a clue what he was talking about. Kincad hadn't told him about some vampire slayer named Buffy. Who the hell was Buffy? _Fuck it, Duo, _he told himself as he drew the stake on his back.   
  


The vamp rushed at him. Duo spun out of the way and slammed the sharpen piece of wood into the vampire's back. The vampire blinked in surprise and looked at Duo with his crimson eyes. Suddenly, with a silent scream, he exsploded into ash.   
  


Duo said, "Okay, note to self: The crossbow sucks ass." Thats when he felt the rush of dark power around him.   
  


****** 

The wind picked up around the witch, nature actualing taking place in this cold, controled world. 

The girl screamed and thrashed some more. He sliced the blade into his palm and shouted, "Now, dark lord! Take this symbol of purity as my offering! Give me your power so I can serve the Dark Mother! I beseech you! Come to me!"   
  
  
  


He squeezed his blood onto the pentagram, missing the flames from the fat and wax candles. The candle flames flared up bright and they changed to a deep, unnatural red. He smiled and said, "Its almost coming, dear. It's almost over."   
  


"No, it's not!" a young male voice shouted as a boy dressed all in black ran into the pentagram. He had a long chestnut brown braid and huge violet eyes. He was gamine in appearance. He took the boy's face in his mind.   
  


He ran into the pentagram, shouting, "You fool! It's already started!" The boy smirked as he cut the girl out of the binding of the pentagram. She whimpered as he helped her stand up.   
  


He pointed his finger at him, feeling his power growing. The boy smirked as he pulled out a bottle of water with _Holy Water_ etched in black letters on it. The boy twisted the cap off and spurted it everywhere, causing the circle to actually scream. He grabbed the sacrifice's hand and ran.   
  


The witch was about to follow him, but then he heard a voice say, "_Jason, you lost your gift. What do you have to offer in its place?"_   
  


The black witch known as Jason sighed and said, "Myself."   
  


The deep voice laughed, chilling Jason to his soul. It said, "_Even better."_   
  


Jason knew that he was going to get retubution for what that boy did sometime, and he wasn't going to be merciful.   
  


****** 

Duo dropped the girl off at the local police station. He knew that this was the beginning of many victims that he was going to find and drop to someone else's hands. It didn't bother him at all acutely. In fact, the thought of helping people pleased him very much.   
  


****** 

_Interlude_

_After Colony 193_   
  


Duo snuck on the ship with ease. He had no place to go. Everyone he cared about was dead. All he had to his name was his priest outfit, his silver cross, and a bottle of Holy water. He had lost his scythe in the fire. The wooden handle burned to ashes, leaving only a charred blade. He sighed as he rested in an air duct.   
  


Then, the air duct opened and a man with an obscenely long nose looked at Duo with eyes hidden behind a fall of grey hair. Duo couldn't read this guy. The old man laughed and said, "Well, Little Demon, some how you got onto my ship."   
  


Duo stood up and squared his shoulders. He said, "It wasn't that hard."   
  


The old man smiled and said, "No, I don't think it would be for you."   
  


"What do you mean?" Duo asked skeptically.   
  


He smirked and answered, "I know who you are, God of Death. Do you want a break from killing vampires and see what other talents that you have?"   
  


"Maybe," Duo answered carefully.   
  


The old guy, who Duo would later find out whose name was Professor G, smiled and said, "I've got a mobile suit who needs a pilot. You think you're worthy?"   
  


Duo smirked. The God of Death was gonna loom darker than ever now. He answered, "Hell yeah."   
  


_**The End!**_   
  


Okay, that's been bugging me for a while. Now you know why Jason has that sadness to him, and something that's going to come into play later on in the story. And no, that nameless girl wasn't Aurora. She was a nameless girl. I hope you enjoyed this. Its gonna be relevant to the story later.   
  


Still looking for fan art though.   
  
  
  
  
  



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